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Planning your wardrobe intentionally! Yes!!! That’s what this detox is all about! And guess what? You don’t need any subscriptions, no weekly commitment and you can start anytime! 🙂

As you get on a role with your 2018 goals, plans, aspirations and resolutions, whatever you may call it I would like for you to consider your wardrobe and the changes you would like to make.These changes can be to continue to develop where you are at or they can be to review and revamp. Where are you on that scale?

Continue to Develop………………………………………………………………….Review & Revamp

Believe it or not your wardrobe says a lot about you and how your personality shows up every day in your various settings. Don’t get me wrong… it doesn’t define you but it does speak volumes, especially when you are not speaking literally.

How confident was I in my Maxi? Love it!!! 🙂

My dilemma

I am somewhere on that continuum. I am not quite sure as my wardrobe continues to evolve. What I can say though is that I know what is missing. I know.. If I know what is missing why don’t I just fix it? Well it’s not that easy or simple but I have decided I need to make some strides towards that. Becoming intentional.

Be intentional Uta..Be intentional.. Rocking my Amshina Pencil Skirt

I always saw myself as an intentional shopper. You know, deals are on so I choose wisely depending on my needs and not wants. This changed drastically at some point. I started going for deals and adding pieces that were either too repetitive and not functional or sometimes the wear and tear was not good :(. I mean really, how many pair of blue jeans does one really need?…lol When I say “things changes” that’s what I am referring to. So While I was getting items at good deals, the question still remained whether they met my wardrobe needs? Did they fit my sense of fashion? Did I love these pieces? You get the picture now. So here are some things I want you to do as you think wardrobe detox at the start of the year. I know its February… so hopefully it’s not too late to add something else to your list if its not there already! 🙂 Think about it though, it’s a good one. Happy wardrobe, happy life! 🙂 Okay…maybe not that dramatic. You know what I mean. :). Here it goes, three questions:

What’s in your closet?: I mean, come on. You know the theory of don’t go grocery shopping on an empty stomach? Well let’s flip that, don’t go shopping with a full closet! Especially when you don’t know what’s in it. 🙂

What’s your style?: Do you know your style? Your preferred pieces? You know, the ones that you live in daily, weekly? Your weekend favs? Your office go tos. For someone like myself who went through a period of dress rehearsals ( I still do at times..lol).I think I have an idea now of those pieces.

What’s missing?: Are there pieces that you can think of right away that you would love to see in your closet but they are not there? Have you ever got dressed, wish you could wear something else and thought you owned that missing piece of garment but later realized you never bought it? ( That might just be me..lol .. it happened alright). You know what I mean!

Regaining momentum

So what’s my challenge since I have asked you to think of the above three questions? Well it’s simple. If you felt totally comfortable with your answers to question 1 and 2 then you are in a good place and perhaps you are continuing to develop and improve your wardrobe and style. Feel free to share your thoughts on that below. 🙂

On the other hand, if you didn’t feel too good about question 1 and 2 then it’s time to plan the review and revamp strategy for your closet. Yes!! Review and revamp. You get to do this on your own terms and in your own time. I am just here to prompt you to think and then act on it! 🙂 Question 3 goes across the board from the wardrobe confident to the wardrobe “I am still figuring it out”. There is always something missing.

I promise I was not thinking about sewing….My reflection pose 🙂

What’s next for me?

With my goal of infusing my handmade pieces into my wardrobe I have to be more intentional about what I make for myself now. So guess what…review and revamp! I will update you as those changes occur.

My Infinity scarf and memade dress! 🙂 Its a start.

Here’s what I would like you to do.

I would love to hear from you on what you thought of my little exercise! 🙂

As a bonus for individuals who are willing to drop me an email at amshinaapparel@gmail.com or Private Message me on instagram with:

Your top 5 summer staples

If you could wear one outfit all summer what would that be and why?

Send me your response in an Private Message/email for a chance to be entered into a draw for one of my handmade pieces! 🙂 Stay connected on my social media @amshina on instagram and here on the blog for details on the giveaway :).

Join me in this mini series on style over the month 4 Mondays in May starting today. 🙂

I read this article once by a popular fashion blogger about redefining your wardrobe. In the article she says ” having a lot of clothes does not make you stylish”. It’s funny cause for sometime I didn’t think I was as fashionable since in reality I didn’t have a lot of clothes. But then that changed. I had a lot of clothes. But guess what…. I still wasn’t fashionable. *Chuckles* Why I say that .. Lets see, I had a wardrobe full of clothing yet every time I get invited out or have an event I always have to buy something new, not always but most times I am inclined to. Ain’t that a challenge right? It just wasn’t adding up. How can you have clothes but don’t have?

When I read that statement from the blogger it brought so much clarity and a push that made me re-evaluate how I defined my style and more so how I build my ideal wardrobe. Tired of the Tornado that swept through the closet look that’s left behind before every event….. you know what I mean!

My notion… it doesn’t matter how many folks you admire and incorporate pieces of their style into your look, in the end I feel you come out with something original that really reflects you. It’s okay to admire, copy, cut and paste. Don’t lose yourself while doing that though.

In the past 7 years of sewing and really pushing the threads, it’s only within the past three years I am beginning to really define my style. There are certain elements that are common to how I select clothing, put them together and how they fit and feel before I make a purchase. It’s that serious. Life is too short to not be comfortable with what you wear. I am sure we all had that stage where we wear clothing to fit in that was not the best for our body in some ways or the other.

Dream with me….

What if you could love every stitch of clothing you own? You know,every piece your favourite piece? That’s the kind of wardrobe I would like to have one day. Thats’ right.. every piece having a story, jelling with each other, mix and match, across seasons, fun, function and fit all in my closet.

Sounds like a tall order. But hey… the sky is not the limit. Define your style and then build. One piece at a time.It will take time but once you know what works, you can build from there. The key is knowing and learning what works for YOU. Stop buying clothes to fit in and say you have, when really you and I know they are not working for you. Your clothes should work for you. If it is not working for you ….let it go….*hint hint* It’s time for a spring clean.

What’s your style? Or I should say your wish list?I would love to hear from you?

I have a few other great articles in this series on style for the rest of May you don’t want to miss. 🙂

So this was really not the plan last evening. The goal was to go to the fabric store ( which I did), source some fabric based on some generated interest this week in a particular piece, take some pictures, head back home and work on finishing another cardigan.

Hmmmmmmm… lets see when did it all changed.. ooh yeah… in the fabric store…lol

I saw the remnant of this fabric and had a visual of perhaps a peplum. Such an unsual print and the feel and sturdyness of the knit was just great. However when I got to the cutting table I realized that it was not going to work for a peplum that is. So I didn’t want to walk away from the piece. It is quiet and unusual print you would agree and it was on sale too…… Go figure i bought it ( A potential new member of my stash). It was less than a meter but in my head I was sure I can come up with something to do with it.

Got home and guess where I headed…. you guessed right.. the machine.. set up my thread and next few minutes I was on the floor cutting away.. Good thing was I had a mini plan. A few weeks ago I completed an online course in designing patterns for Stretch knit fabrics through Burda Academy.. I had made most of the slopers that was done as part of the course. The different design variations too. These slopers were all made tailored to my measurements. So eager to try out the dress sloper I made it was an easy cut for this fabric.

Used sloper to cut dress, added extra piece for length!

An hour and a half later Tadah!!!!!!!! Just like that a new member of my wardrobe!

Love how it turned out.. Had to rip the neck out and add it again because it was attached wrong…oops late night sewing.. some serger woes was included in this project but I continued. Once I tried it on I was able to hem bottom and finish the armholes.

Disregard the beautiful mess in the background.. I am working on it.. 😉 Focus on the dress…hahahah